Sinestro was trouncing the heroes. Though the team was sorely out matched they gave as they got. Green Arrow shared that Sinestro's ring was much like a green lantern's ring that it had a limited charge and each use of it would drain it of power. So that was their plan to fight for as long as they could in the hopes that Sinestro's ring would run out of juice.
But the Justice League just didn't have the power to take on Sinestro.
Green Arrow went through a nearby windshield. He groaned, "H-Hal hurry"
Hal Jordan was hurtling through space but to his eyes he was moving through a swirling tunnel of blue and white. He was moving as fast as he dared to push his ring. Knowing if he pushed the ring any further he arrived on earth without any power left in it. Or even worse be stuck out in space without the green aura to protect him.
"Ring how long till we reach earth?" Hal asked his ring regretting his question instantly.
"calculating" the ring responded like a voice in his ear.
"will reach the location of Sinestro within fifteen minutes" the ring finished.
Fifteen minutes was too long. He silently prayed for a miracle.
John Stewart sat on his bed having a pity party. His whole life he'd been dealt a hard hand and now suddenly life drops a magical ring on him and expects him to hop to it. No sir-ee, he refused. why the hell did the ring even pick him. He wasn't a good person, hell the ring came to him while he was driving off with a stolen car.
He heard someone knocking on the door. No not someone, it was his wife Katma. A good kind person. A woman he didn't deserve.
She came in and he could see in her palm was the green lantern ring. He turned away at the sight.
"Listen John" Katma said walking toward him, "I know you".
John looked up at her, "What the-"
She cut him off as she sat next to him placing a delicate hand on his shoulder while her other hand still cradled the lantern ring.
"I know you better than I think you know yourself, life has kicked you down so many times but you've been using it as an excuse for the choices you made." John was about to speak but she cut him off.
"I'm not saying your a bad person because you're not" Katma continued, " You're a good man I know that". She lifts the ring to John's eyes, "and this ring knows it too."
"And right now you have a chance to do some real good if you want to."
John looked at the ring and he remember the first moment the ring landed on his finger. It allowed him to fly and that was the best moment of his life. He took from Katma and placed it on his right ring finger. The moment it slid into place a bright green light consumed John.
A green lantern stood before Katma. And for the first time in a long time John smiled a pure smile with actual joy.
"I would've thought you would try to use the ring yourself" he told his wife.
Katma laughed, "I did try but it only works for you, John, because it chose you and you alone baby." Katma laughed.
In a slightly more serious tone she whispered, "Now go get 'em tiger".
Hawkgirl stood bloody. Her right wing was bent out of shape twisted by one of Sinestro's cruel constructs.
She was the last of the Justice League left standing. But she refused to give up. She struggled to lift up her mace as Sinestro glided forward to her at a leisurely pace. He was floating an inch above the ground as if he was too good to be on the ground of earth.
Sinestro's sinister mustache twitched as he glared at the stoic figure of Hawkgirl's defiance.
"I thought you friends of Jordan would have put up a better fight." He said boringly. Yellow light poured from his ring and fell to the ground like water from a glass. As the yellow light touched the ground they splintered into four different tendrils that slithered across the earth looking for their targets. One tendril snaked fast at Hawkgirl, she barely lifted her mace to smash it on the construct but it dodged to behind her and wrapped itself around her.
She struggled but she was suddenly zapped by electricity. She screamed and could struggle no more.
Sinestro created four guillotines side by side in a line right in front of him. Hawkgirl lifted her eyes to see that the other three tendrils had grabbed her teammates. He set them inside guilottine.
"Your heads would make perfect presents for Jordan" Sinestro said bemusedly, "perfect for your earth holiday which you exchange gifts, what was it Valentines?". Hawkgirl didn't answer instead focusing on trying to get out of her restraint.
Sinestro was nevertheless bothered by her lack of answer.
Suddenly a yellow bubble wrapped around him as two small tiny projectiles bounced off. Sinestro whirled to find who would dare attack him. In the corner was two cops their hands shaking as they pointed their guns at the villain.
"uh-you're under arrest" said the first officer who was older and chubbier than her partner who seemed to be on his first day of his job.
"You insolent-" began Sinestro.
"Get away..." began Hawkgirl before she was electrocuted by the tendril holding her down.
"W-what do we do, Ma'am"
"FIRE!" she yelled as she began unloading her gun on Sinestro. Sinestro with a flick o his wrist sent a careening force of yellow energy into the two cops causing them and their car to be flipped over.
"Now" Sinestro tried to begin again turning to his captors.
A giant missile slammed into his back he was barely saved by his yellow bubble but still sent forward into the street where he made a decent crater, "Sorry dude, but its christmas and you're too late" said a green figure zooming in from the skies. The two cops who had been blowned away were revealed to be alright as the smoke cleared revealing they were protected by a green light.
"Yeah, Green Lantern" cheered the young cop while his partner just sighed in relief.
The yellow construct holding the justice league disappeared allowing them to fall on the ground less damaged then they would have been.
"Hal?" said Hawkgirl still disoriented from her long fight with Sinestro.
"Sorry sweetheart" said John as he landed next to her, "I'm the new guy."
"Um...ring can you help the Justice League with their injuries?"
"affirmative" anounced the ring as a green medic suddenly appeared and began to tend to the heroes.
"would you like to keep this automatic?" asked the ring. John turned his attention to Sinestro who was pulling himself from the crater his eyes unmistakably hateful.
"Yeah" said John as he flew toward Sinestro ready to resume the fight. With a violent roar Sinestro much faster than John thought possible, threw himself forward catching John by his arms and were forcing him into the air.
"I was going to be merciful and just take your ring, but now I am going to kill you!" yelled Sinestro as his grip tightened like a pythons grip. John's back began to burn as he was sent higher into the atmosphere faster and faster. John struggled to focus his ring at Sinestro's midsection and fired a beam. But a small shield deflected beam right into John's knee.
"Aghh!" screamed John.
Which made Sinestro just sneer, "Scream!" as he tightened his grip and pushed even faster. The energy that made up John's suit begin to peel away from his back area and John could feel the heat tearing into his skin.
But pain messed up. The pain made it clear to John and with his own rage he fired a more violent and hateful green beam at Sinestro which his yellow shield couldn't handle and was forced away from John. John allowed himself to free fall. He needed the time to focus as the heat slowly began to dissipate as his suit mended itself and him.
Sinestro caught himself, "I will not be made a fool by some troglodyte novice" he said as he lifted his left hand into the air, "you will fear me." Yellow light shone into the air like a spotlight in the night.
John saw what Sinestro made his mouth dried, "but how?" In the air were the marines he served with, his mother with the same dressed she had wore the day she died including the bullet hole that took her life. Then his wife, Katma. John was falling not just from the air but into his own memory, his doubt, his Fear.
He was too afraid to save his mother. He counted the seconds when the man had dawn out his gun till the man shot his mom. It was five seconds. He could've acted but he didn't. Those marines trusted him to lead them and his indecision cost them their lives in an ambush. His wife! God how many times had he failed her, he knew it was only any day now till she left him. She deserved better, someone better than John.
Sinestro used John's fear to begin hurl multiple saw blades at him. the only thing keeping John from being decapitated was the ring's auomatic defense screen. But even that had its limits especially when its master wasn't focusing his will through it.
Her smiled broke through the fog of fear. Her words echoed in his head, "The ring chose you, John ".
He looked down at his ring, "Why did you choose me?" he asked the ring.
"Because you have the ability to overcome great fear" those words reminded John. His mother killer was caught by John who acted quickly to stop him. He was able to help his marines to escape that ambush. While he feared to fail Katma, she was also his greatest motivation to keep going.
John stopped his descent and stared at Sinestro. John clenched his right hand into a fist before flying right at sinestro. The green bubble slowing morphing by John's will into something else. Sinestro refused to back down from the challenge and charged forward as well forming his own armor.
John's will created a green apache helicopter that showered Sinestro's form with green bullets and missiles. Sinestro allowed the melee to bounce off his armor as it turned into a larger version of him. The two constructs clashed creating a fireworks of Green and Yellow.
Katma watched from her apartment window holding her hands together in prayer.
John was sent falling through the sky hurtling toward the ground. When suddenly a pair of strong hands caught John and helped him slowly to the ground.
John to see someone familiar and yet unrecognizable, "You're..."
"Yeah I know you want my autograph" joked Hal Jordan as he helped John to set his feet on solid ground.
"Have you ever said the Green Lantern oath?" Hal asked.
"W-what?" said John.
Hal smiled, "Don't worry I'll teach ya, but we'll have to be quick."
Sinestro stopped himself from hitting the ground and hovered barely an inch from the ground. Sinestro gritted his teeth but was knocked backwards.
"Hey pinkey we ain't done" yelled John as he rushed the alien.
Sinestro sent a shockwave of yellow at John who dove under it. Sinestro moved for the opening in John's defenses as he formed a sword in his hand.
"He's not alone, Sinestro" said Hal as he appeared next to sinestro punching him in his face.
Sinestro took the punch and sneered at his sworn enemy, "Jordan!"
John rushed behind Sinestro but was outmaneuvered and ended up almost slamming into Hal.
"Look out!" yelled Hal as the two were both blasted by Sinestro's yellow beam.
"Even the two of you together can't hope to beat me." With that said Sinestro descended attacking both lanterns. But at the last second Hal pulled something he had hidden.
"T-thats" Sinestro said in fear.
Hal Jordan held a manhunter's detached head at sinestro and the droid pinged.
"Draining initiated" its automated voice said as yellow light flowed from Sinestro's ring into the robots skull.
"Power levels depleting" responded Sinestro's ring, "Power Levels 27.8%"
"no" hissed Sinestro as he fought for the flow of power.
"Now's our chance Stewart" Hal said. Sinestro tried to pull away from the magnetic draw that the manhunters head had on the energy in his ring.
"Brightest Day,
In Blackest Night,
Let no Evil Escape our sight,
Let all who worships Evil's might
Beware Our Power Green Lantern's Light" qouted both lanterns at the same time as their green rings glowed a briliant shade and from both rings came a high tense power blast that twirled around each other and slammed into the unprotected and trapped Sinestro hurtling into the troposphere of the planet Earth.
"Amazing" said Katma as she had been listening to John recount what had happened since he left to fight Sinestro.
"So what now?" she asked, john didn't say anything instead focusing on the rebuilding that was being assisted by the Justice League.
"John, are you...you still a green lantern?" she asked noticing the green ring was no longer on his right hand.
"Being a green lantern is a huge responsibility, katma, I'm basically a beatcop but for the whole universe that means I would be out there in space for long periods of time" John explained to Katma his hands in his pockets.
"I'd be facing powerful maniacs and making enemies like that sinestro guy, who won't stop till they hurt me deeply."
Katma looked down, "Well, I think you would have made a great Green Lantern".
"Well the other guy, the first one, Hal Jordan, said he'd love to have a partner."
Katma looked up quizically, "Does that mean?"
"I wanted to run it by you first make sure you understand what I'd be doing and..."
Katma leaped from the couch into her husband wrapping her arms around him, "Oh, John I always wanted to see outerspace."
John laughed and pulled her away to kiss her.
As they broke apart, "I need to go to Oa, do some training first."
"oh?"
"Yeah, the other guy said its basically like boot camp, I'd be gone for a few weeks but when it's all done"
We'll see the stars.
THE END